The invention relates generally to the field of condom testing equipment, and more particularly to such equipment which utilizes an electric arc to identify defective condoms.
By virtue of their intended use, it is absolutely essential that condoms provide a complete and impermeable barrier. Minute holes undetectable under visual inspection and excessively thin spots in the condom wall likely to fail in use are unacceptable. Because the manufacturing process produces huge numbers of condoms at a high rate and because the material of construction is purposely very thin and elastic, there is always likely to be a relatively small number of defective products in any production run. Because of this, every condom must be tested prior to packaging and distribution for sale to insure that no defective condoms are supplied to consumers.
One technique for testing a condom involves placing the condom on an electrically conductive mandrel, immersing the condom in water containing an electrical lead and then attempting to pass a current through the water to the mandrel. The condom material acts as an insulating barrier between the water and the mandrel to prevent completion of the electrical circuit, but any hole in the condom will allow the circuit to be completed, indicating that the condom is defective. Advantages of this technique are that low electrical voltages are required and the use of water as a conductive medium provides full contact to all portions of the condom. The major drawback to this technique is that the condoms must be dried prior to packaging. Another drawback is that the technique does not provide an indication of excessively thin spots in the condom wall which may tear in use, since the thin material is still sufficient to prevent passage of current from the water to the mandrel. A second known testing technique is to replace the conductive water with a conductive mesh material, the mesh being constructed so as to be very non-rigid so that it closely drapes against the condom on the conductive mandrel. The mandrel and condom are rotated while contacting the electrified mesh, and again any defects will allow the current to pass through the condom to the mandrel. A problem with this technique is that because the mesh must have a large amount of open area to achieve the desired flexibility, direct contact against every portion of the condom is not achieved, so a relatively high and thus dangerous amount of electrical current must be used--typically greater than 50 watts--to try to insure that the current will arc from the mandrel through a defect to the nearest piece of mesh. The variation in distance from the condom to particular points on the mesh as the condom is moved past the mesh also makes proper calibration of the electrical current difficult. Another problem is caused by the nipple portion of the condom. Because of this change in configuration from the generally cylindrical main body portion of the condom, providing enough contact between the mesh and the nipple material is problematic and defects can be missed.
It is an object of this invention to provide a highly efficient and accurate condom testing apparatus which overcomes the problems in the current testing equipment by providing for full contact over every portion of the condom, including the nipple area, so that an electric current can be used to detect any and every defect in the condom, including a defect consisting of an excessively thin wall portion which may fail during use, without requiring excessive preparation or post-testing steps in the testing process. These objects, as well as other objects which will be apparent from the description to follow, are accomplished preferably by providing an apparatus having an electrically conducting sheet fabric member for contacting the generally cylindrical portion of the condom on the mandrel and an electrically conducting brush member for contacting the nipple portion of the condom on the mandrel, or alternatively by providing an apparatus utilizing one or more flexible conducting sheet members only for contacting the full extent of the condom, or again alternatively by providing an apparatus utilizing one or more conductive brush members only for contacting the full extent of the condom.